h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I do have a cardiologist, as well as a vascular surgeon, for the legs (but I'm going to *try* to walk some, to avoid the stents).

I'm also seeing a diabetic nurse practioner next week, and the diabetes nutritionist. Probably be more of the diet stress from that one!

Guess what, turns out I've been reading my scale wrong, I think. The dark numbers are at the 20 lb marks, not the 10s! Sooo, I started this at about 180, and am now at 175, as of this morning. Needless to say, my eyes aren't good, early in the morning.

Congratulations on the 5 pound loss. And good luck with the nurse practioner. Some of them are quite good. I hope yours is.

There was a saying on one of the sites I visit every morning. A Japanese proverb. "Fall seven times. Stand up eight." I like that. Short and to the point. We'll have setbacks. But instead of beating ourselves up about it, we need to just stand back up and keep going.

I've been plodding away. Today was nice because I had only a tiny bump up on the scale after an up day. That is usually a good sign that I will see some real progress after the next couple of down days.

That proverb reminds me of that Chumbawumba song, "I get knocked down, but I get up again":

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LODkVkpaVQA

I love that. Thanks for the link.

Ok. My news is that I've changed my days around. Saturday as a down day just wasn't working out for me. So I talked it over with Syn and am now back to my old schedule of MWF down days and TTSS as up days. He has agreed to not take me to restaurants on Friday any more. He's being very encouraging and helpful.

I'm down 4 pounds since I started back on the program. I'm quite pleased.

That's great Hyp!

I've embarrassed to say that I've been so stressed this weekend, i think I've gained back a pound or so (probably water weight, as I haven't had my heart in exercising) due to gritted teeth syndrome...

A week ago I started JUDDDering again, but without recording my starting point On the assumption that I was four pounds above my old target (which is about what it had been regularly) I have managed an astounding half pound loss in the first week. It could be a start in right direction or a fluke. My down days are not the most rigorous, particularly in the evening meal. Smaller portions.

3.5 above target at 1 week. Maybe I should set a more substantial target? Once achieved I'd have that much more to regain slowly before I start getting concerned again

Pimms, when on the program, I've always done the down days pretty well. It's the up days I've had problems with. Going overboard with treats and not making healthy meal choices. Sometimes it is like I feel desperate to stuff myself while I can to compensate for the down day ahead. This of course is counterproductive. JUDDDD works for me as long as I just eat sensibly on the up days. As soon as I throw in candy bars and fried chicken and after dinner snacks - that sort of thing - I stall. I don't gain, but I don't lose, either.

Then when I stopped the diet, I was in the habit of overeating on up days and just kept on with the late night eating, etc. Not having the down days to compensate, I regained weight pretty fast. So what I have to do is get myself into a better frame of mind concerning the up days. I have to keep reminding myself that having a blow out on up days is establishing a really dangerous pattern for me down the road. Overeating is never a good thing. Besides the weight gain, feeling stuffed and bloated is miserable.

Another thing I stopped reminding myself when I went off of JUDDDD was that I wasn't just doing it for weight problems. I was doing it to reduce the inflamation in my hands and feet and help relieve the pain in my back. And it worked beautifully for that when I did it correctly. So this time around, I am trying to refocus on it as a healthy lifestyle, much better than getting stuck with drugs for arthritis and pain for life.

I am tempted to throw away my scale and judge my success or failure by how well I follow the program, not by a number that keeps changing constantly. And the way your clothes fit tells you how you're doing anyway. Sometimes I feel terrorized by the scale. So, a good day would be one where I stayed under the 500 calorie level I've set myself. And a good day would be one where I didn't overeat, made healthy food choices and went to bed without having to take something for indigestion.

I say that knowing I'm addicted to the scale and won't be able to avoid weighing. But that number on the scale makes us feel good or bad about ourselves without necessarily reflecting our efforts.

The fact that I feel better when I eat the JUDDDD way is what is keeping me going this time. I lost 4 pounds the first week, and at the end of the third week, I am still only down 4 pounds. Every morning I watch the scale dance around the same mark. But I definitely feel better and I don't have that stuffed and bloated feeling.

Exactly. JUDDDD is a great eating plan for overall health whether we lose massive amounts of weight or not. It's worth doing for that reason alone.

Hello.
Hyp told me you were over here talking diets and stuff

I'm attempting to lose the stone and a bit that I've put on over the last year due to lack of exercise, medication and a severe cashew nut habit.
I know JUDDD works well for you guys but don't think I can cope with so few calories on a down day.
What I'm doing is counting calories, obsessively , and exercising.
As some of the weight will be converted back into muscle, this morning I measured myself. It was a shock to realise just how big my arse has become.
Now that I've made the decision to do something about the mess myself had become, I'm feeling a lot more positive and motivated.
Go me.
And go all of you too

Welcome to our nightma... I mean our support group. No need to do the alternate day diet thing if it doesn't suit you. If you find yourself hitting a plateau due to diet fatigue (when your metabolism lowers to compensate for the reduced calories you are ingesting), you might want to give the alternate day thing a try. It supposedly convinces your body you are not trying to starve it to death.

Okay, I'm off the soapbox. Good luck!

Teuchter, you don't have to be doing JUDDDD to hang out here. SC was on WW for a long time. When Lady C ws here, she was doing South Beach. So, whatever plan you're on is fine.

Y'know. I'm finding it easier to beat the late night *hunger* -- I've been sipping some black tea with just the teensiest smidge of milk, instead.

If nothing else, it distracts me long enough for my short term memory loss to kick in, and I forget to gobble!

SC, hot chicken broth is filling, too. Are you still on WW?

One of the things I resent is all the time I've spent in my life obsessing about my weight. I've often wondered what it would be like to not have to think about it. I'm nearly 60 and am still waging this neverending battle and feeling bad about myself because of the way I look. I'm soooooo tired of struggling with it. But I don't have a choice. If I eat freely I'll be 200 pounds.

I know how weight has always affected me. I can't even imagine how people hundreds of pounds above their ideal weight must feel. I feel hopeless about it all sometimes. Every single day must be a misery for them.

The guy who manages my network at the library went on South Beach a 3 months ago and has dropped over 40 pounds. It has made him a true believer in lean protein and veg as the way to go.

Chicken broth sounds

The thing that gets me, Hyp, is that western societal pressures make us feel inadequate and ugly just because we're carrying a bit much weight.

In some societies we'd be regarded as beautiful for that very same reason and it would be the skinny minnies who were unattractive.

I love it when one sees a large woman, full of self confidence and happy in her skin.

For me, exercise is the key. After a few weeks of really hating it and having to speak sternly to myself and drag my reluctant, lazy butt along to the gym, I'm now getting a buzz from it and looking forward to going.
So far, the joints are behaving

I'm going to restrict myself to using the scales no more than once a week. It's so disheartening when one's been trying really hard and the scales show an increase.
Today I bought myself a new set of kitchen scales which weigh in single grams so food can be measured more accurately. That should help with the calorie control.
Two things have really surprised me: the huge volume of lettuce you get for 10g - and how few cashew nuts add up to 25g

My first goal is to fit back into my clothes. I have a practically new wardrobe that is now too small. Dresses for work, blazers, jeans, slacks, some really pretty blouses. I refuse to buy any more. Then if that is as small as I ever get, so be it. But I do have to get back to that point and stay there.

I agree that we are living in a shallow, unforgiving culture where thin is in and if you don't measure up, you're ridiculed. I also resent the generally accepted notion that anyone who is overweight is so because they're lazy gluttons. Most of the large people I know eat the same amount or less than the thin ones. People who can eat anything they please and never gain weight really don't get it. They should consider themselves darned lucky instead of acting so morally superior.

Hyp, I sorta kinda follow the WW points thing, if for no other reason than it tells me what the calorie density of the food is.

I think a lot of my former eating pattern was just trying to fill an emptiness I wasn't aware of feeling. Once I owned up to the lot of emotions that I was running from (grief, loneliness, stress), it got a *lot* better. Now my weight is stable, if higher than I want it.

I need to exercise more, that's all. Getting a job will help with that, and it looks like I'll be able to make some progess on that soon.

Tomorrow's , and that means soup (chicken broth is sounding *very* good I think, thanks!)

I've got a question -- just something I've been thinking about. Do any of the rest of you feel more satisfied with hot drinks, than cold ones? I find hot tea better than cold tea, to make me feel full.

Do you find that the case in winter and in summer, SC?

Warm drinks are somehow more comforting; perhaps that's why they satisfy more?